Day 5 Jan 12th Monday.... THE END

Woke up fresh and ready to ride to Bangalore. Started early by 8:10 from Honnavar. Planned to stop by at Jog Falls. The ghats were beautiful during the morning. While going through the ghats we could smell fresh flowers and it was a beautiful feeling riding through all the greenery. This ghat section has lot of sharp curves and one has to ride slowly and carefully. The bike was choking at fourth gear and Rocky kept a steady third gear and carried on. We stopped at the Sharavathi River vIew point to click some snaps. We went inside to see Jog falls but was disappointed again since there was no water at the falls. It was a mere trickle but we had a good break there. We were joined by the Madras bulls and Indrajit and then by Siddharth and Dubyaman. We had a nice breakfast of bread and omeletes and maggie. When one is hungry anything tastes good. >We started off after an hour. Some of the guys decided to wait for the rest of the gang coming by in a while. The Madras bulls took off with us since they also had to go slow as Navneet's engine was running. Siddharth and Indrajit took turns in dragging while doing the ghats and Sid is a speed freak.. He almost missed a curve once it seems but it is fine. Speed can be addictive as long as one is in control of one's vehicle but personally I would prefer steady riding to speeding up. We took some time off to take a snap shot with the bikes and then we were off. We finished the ghat section pretty soon and reached Sagar. Continuing riding we had lunch somewhere at a good roadside dhabha in Shimoga. We had news that most of the group were catching up with us and then we called them there. We had finished our meal then and while they were settling down we were on our way. Someone from the Madras bulls was lost, i think it was Brijesh but he found his way and all was fine. On our way from Shimoga we took a wrong route and almost went the wrong way when suddenly I saw the landscape change. Thats when we turned and headed back on the right track after asking the right route. Its very confusing to ride through the big towns... one must keep to the bypass as much as possible. Took a short break in Arisekere and then proceeded towards Tumkur. I was impatient to reach home now. Fuelled up the bike here even though there was some gas in the tank. The sun set just a few minutes before entering Tumkur. I must tell you that highway sunsets are amazing and red. This is the second time we were watching a sunset by the highway on our bike and it beats any glorious sunsets... that we have seen. The sun becomes a beautiful red ball of fire and spreads the glow all over. Its a wonderful moment. I clicked my last snap there and was content. After Tumkur we reached the main highway where the Golden Quadrilateral work was going on. The highway is painful to ride with so many diversions. We reached our starting point at 8:45pm and I thought that we did a good timing steadily riding. I was happy with the ride since we not only stopped where necessary but we also managed to see some of the places on the way. All in all it was a great trip and I am waiting for more. Lessons Learnt All rookie riders should carry spares. Though a list is given at the beginning of a trip one must be extra careful on long rides. Avoid Carrying bags with too many dangling loops. Note: Kamat has a great service going in the highway and thats the best place to stop on your way if you are travelling by your own vehicle.

Day 4 Jan 11th Sunday

As decided early on in our trip myself and Rocky left early at about 10:30 - 11:30. We decided to skip the group ride and do some sightseeing by ourselves. Since we were slow and steady riders we were sure that the group would not be far behind. As we passed Goa we went through quaint Goa roads which was a pleasure to ride. As it was Sunday, there was no crowd at all and everything was pleasant. width=241> As planned we spent sometime in old goa and visited the St Francis Xaviers Church and then the museum. Had lunch and then pushed from Panaji at 2:00 in the afternoon. Hitting the highway we did a good speed an average of about 60kmph and crossed the Goa Karnataka border. Passing by some local churches, I saw a big crowd at each one. The crowd would have flocked there for their Sunday prayers. At the border we were stopped by the Border cop and after asking a few questions we were allowed to pass through. Karnataka, aaaahh familiar ground and the air just seemed different. Reached Karwar and decided not to wait at Karwar but had something further down at Kamats. Filled gas at the station and decided that after every 100 odd kilometres we would take a break. On the way we entered Gokarna and decided to watch the sunset. This is a small town boasting of the famous OM beach. It seems only the foreigners are allowed there or if you have your passport and all other documents. The beach is thus named because of the shape of the beach. We had to make do with visting the Gokarna beach, the road to which was crowded with shops and temples and people who were all making it to the beach to spend the sunday evening there. Reaching there it was a disappointment but it was ok i guess. We saw something of Gokarna at least. Started for Honnavar and reached by 7:15 pm. Stayed at the same hotel and had a great dinner of the fish fry , fish curry and vodka. I was glad that I did not get to miss the scrumptious food after all... LOLOL. Guys if you are going towards Shimoga and then taking a break at Honnavar, before proceeding to Goa... do stay at Hotel Siddarth next to Kamat's Inn. Excellent room service and excellent food and great rooms... we recommend it highly. The group reached Honnavar at 1:00 in the night. There was a hassle with Andrew's chain which cut due to the bag loops which were dangling near it. They were safe but they had to spend 3 hours fixing it in Karwar. Andrew being a rookie rider did not think of taking a spare chain and well thank god Dubyaman had one extra. So all was well with the riders. Part of the group spent some time at Palolem beach. While returning the Madras Bulls Dodo, Navneet, Brijesh and Indrajit from Calcutta also joined us.

10th Jan Day 3

Woke up to the beach and then went down to the shacks for tea and breakfast. The food is much cheaper there and the service is great. Had nice fish sandwiches and a lazy tea appreciating the beach and the water. The weather was cool and peaceful. Many of the foreigners were already sun bathing on the beach beds... Lots of people and of all things lot of cows. We were crowded with a herd of cows as the sun starting going up. I thought i had enough of cows in the midst of the Bangalore traffic and them too in the beach.. I think they lost their way or something. I must say that there were a lot of friendly dogs wandering about who would come and rest by your side. They knew that food was available and they were pretty well behaved. I had a nice time watching them frolic and amused myself seeing the way the dogs got their food by putting their best paw.Took a few snaps and proceeded back to the hotel to leave for the venue where the ridermania would be held. The Venue was Riva Resorts where all the bikers would gather. Some early birds had already booked shacks at the venue... lucky bums. It was a pleasure seeing all the bikes that had gathered there. The Pune Roadshakers had got along Ten Sports Channel with them. They were shooting the whole thing. On our way we saw a sign welcoming us saying "Rider's Mania 2004 welcome.. " instead of Ridermania 04.. LOLOL... Guna's bike a 1959, Made in England, was the talk of the crowd. This bike is my favourite and it had a lot of people wanting to buy it. Guna was impressed and all set out to sell the bike but we deterred him from doing so. It was a collector's item and was running well. We advised him to sell in online at a good price. We lazed around in the beach for the whole day. I spent some time reading, had some good lunch, some beer. Kings is the best beer one can find there. The evening was full of dance and beer flowed like river among the crowd. To be honest, we were expecting a lot more interaction with the other groups and some group activity but it did not happen and we were left to fend for ourselves and do what we wanted and well that did not seem so bad since we had the beach to ourselves and a lot of shacks and beach beds to soak in the sun. I think we could have seen more of Goa instead of languishing there doing nothing. Maybe we were so used to doing something that sitting and doing nothing was something we were not used too. It was getting hot and the beer too stopped flowing on the house. The shacks near the house were also expensive but very romantic ifyou would want to spend a honeymoon there. One would have thought that fish of all food items would be cheap in Goa but no a plate of fish curry with three small pieces and plain rice in a small bowl would cost you some 200/- thats scandalous considering that fish was the staple food in Goa. The food rates differ depending on the location I guess. The rest of the day was spent with guys ogling with bigger than big eyes ;) at the display of very beautiful upper assets of the female bodies sunbathing and walking by. Someone had a pair of powerful binoculars just for this purpose... what a feast it would have been for the guys.. .he he !! I pored my nose in a Sidney Sheldon book acquired from the shack and after sometime I called to the women who sold junk jewellery and do some timepass and in the process bought some junk which I think was pretty. Anyway, the venue was high up in North Goa far away from main town and no one wanted to get lost. So most of the crowd stayed put by the beach. Some frolicked in the water while others waited for the sun to go down to have a nice swim in the sea. Rocky took a swim and a long run as the sun went down and I took a long walk by the beach too. It was a good time of the day with the wind whistling through and many came out for a walk by the calm sea. The party started by 8:00 and the dance floor started to warm up. We started dancing and others followed. The party went on till the food came on at 10. There was great cheering about the groups from Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai. Praveen from RTMC was doing the jumping jack act continuously and jumped on my feet twice. OW OW OW!!! And then he went on to the DJ took the mike and kept shouting RTMC yea yea yea !!! LOLOL That was fun. I think the Bangalore group was the noisiest. For me it was dance and then OW OW and then dance.... and then i started moving sideways to where Praveen would not jump... LOL. Mahendra and Easha were blown and drowning in beer and something else... godknowswhat... JFK who spent the whole morning sleeping in the beach was up and dancing the whole night with Anita. Suraj was displaying excellent facial expressions and looking for a gal. Guna succeeded in persuading not one but two gals to dance with him and all eyes were like ( GAWK) LOLOL. He is the gentlest of them all and all guys had a great time dancing then. The shy Jahangir also let his sleeves down. ( i say sleeves since he does not sport any hair) and freaked out. RTMC ruled the dance floor. Praveen continued to step in many's toes and shouting.... Each time I would sit down to take a breather he would jump and dance towards me to ask me to move... and i started to avoid his direction for fear of being stamped again and again... LOLOL... The Roadshakers from Pune did their jig with their jackets on... there were couple of good dancers there... then there were this group of sardarjis who did a slow bhangra with all the numbers and moving round and round all over the floor with his arms stretched out.. OYEEEEE........ They were being shot majorly by the crew that they got. Once when I was dancing with Rocks I see this camera suddenly appearing from below and I got a mild shock seeing the black lens proceeding up from below... YEESSHHH !! Well the food was much left to ask for and it was a laugh. The only thing which was edible was the fish fry. The rest was a mockery. Some butter chicken and then there was some prawn curry. Prawn curry was just curry and no prawns and well dinner was not that a great affair. Anyways after dinner we made our way to our rooms at Alcove and crashed off. Here are a few pics of the venue

From Honnavar to Goa 9th Jan ,Day 2

Route: Honnavar - Kumta- Ankola - Karwar - Polem - Chauri - Cuncolim - Madgaon - Panaji - Mapusa- Vagator Beach.

Woke up early next morning and went off to see one of the beaches with Prakash and Gayatri. A calm place by the sea but that day it was very windy. We were surpirsed that the beach was so near by. Coming by we had the famous gadbad icecream at Meher Ice Cream parlor, another recommendation by friends of friends in Bangalore. Prakash and Gayatri were excited about the icecream. I was too since I had missed this in Mangalore on our Coondapur Trip. This ice cream is famous in Mangalore too. Meanwhile we came back had our breakfast and then got ready for the ride. We started at about 10:45 in the morning and rode to Karwar and then Goa. The mood was upbeat and everybody wanted to party. The plan was to reach Goa by the end of the day or earlier. En route we were suddenly slammed by heavy gusts of crosswind. The bike was being pulled from both the sides and I was a little scared that we would lose control. After manouvering the bike we got used to the wind and the trick was to accelerate and to go on... as we were riding fast and furious, a crow lost his way and came flying at us. Poor thing might have been confused because of the sudden gust of wind and hit our bike and I just saw the crow being thrown far away at the road side legs in the air upside down... I was just praying that it was in shock and would just fly again... Mahendra was almost sleeping on his tank to avoid getting messed up by the wind. We reached Karwar and I must say that this town is beautiful with wide roads and the highway by the town is a beautiful stretch of road. We took some time off to have some lunch at Karwar and then admire the coastal area. Wind was as strong as ever and it was forming mini sand storms in the highway, very dangerous if one is not careful. After a long break full of beer and fish fry, we carried on to Panaji. On the way I met a friendly cat at the petrol pump where I spent some time with it. The destination was near and the mood was getting lighter and lighter... the group was getting slower and they decided to stop and have another round of drinks. Gayatri was hungry too so we waited till everyone finished. Some of us were eager to reach our destination which was about some 40 odd kms. In goa we went through Madgaon. Madgaon is a crowded city and we went through the famous bridge of Madgaon... was dying to get to cleaner landscape... and the highway. We reached Panaji and then it was time to contact Keerthi. I was loving the roads this time. Clean and smooth roads with funny ads like kingfisher Beer or something which was Goa's "maka naka drink". Lots of hoardings advertising about different events and different places to stay... This was truly a tourist's haven. We stopped somewhere outside the town, contacted Keerthi who came by with Supreeth aka Slowglow in bright sarongs and t shirts... well the party begins now... but we had to settle our lodging place too. We rode via Mapusa to Vagator Beach. Keerthi booked just one hotel that day and we were expected to share it with the Madras bulls and cram up however we could. Most of us did not like the idea much and we got a hotel nearby of the same guy, Mr Milton who accomodated us after much bargaining and talking... The view from the rooms was amazing. The Hotel Alcove was a happening place with a pub and a restaurant at the same place and it was teeming with foreigners from all the world. The Ozran beach was just below the hotel easily accessible from the hotel by steps and it had great view points for sunset and one could just relax and sip some wine and have some good food and watch the sun go down. Of course the preference was given to the foreigners and its sad but in places like this Indians would feel very left out but I must say that Milton was the perfect host. Some decided to stay at the Royal Resorts while we bunked at Alcove.This little place had everything in proximity, all types of hotels, a happening party place which occured everyday from 5 to 10 in the night, lots of shop to buy chunky outfits and jewellery from. Near this place there were lots of eating joints like the Marrakesh Cafe, German Bakery, French Cafe, Italian food, Tibetian Cafe all within short walking distances and very colourful. The only disadvantage was that everywhere the food was extremely expensive. The group went in search of hotels some distance away and got one called Old Day and Nite hotel where they had a good meal comprising of goan fish curry and rice. I was not that fortunate since Rocky was feeling dizzy due to his reluctance to eat and had to settle for Roti and Dal fry from the restaurant where we stayed. After that we explored the Tibetian cafe and had some momos. I realised very soon that this area was not a very good place to explore if you are on a budget. So I gave up the idea. But we had a nice time enjoying the Kings Beer og Goa which you can get from 15 /- to 30/- depending on the place you are staying. Its exactly a pint. You can check the bottles out in the pic below. Nearby there was trance music happening and lots of guys and gals poured in to a nearby place to party and some of us also went to see what it was all about and had a gala time. They said that hash was moving fast along with the music and well the crowd was very hippy to say the least. And yes a sight for sore and tired male and female eyes. LOL. I shopped my usual knick knacks, got an amazing harley davidson as a small silver pendant for 350 bucks which he would have sold at 2000 bucks to the foreigners... my bargaining skills was so great that he agreed to start a business with me in Bangalore where I could split half of the profit. ha ha ha !! I was more interested in getting the bike pendant... at a lower rate... LOL

Starting from Bangalore

8th Jan, Day 1: Our route to and fro was to be Bangalore - Nelamangala - Tumkur - Gubbi - Tiptur - Arsikere - Kadur - Bhadravati - Shimoga - Sagar - Gersoppa - Honnavar ( break for the day). This was the shortest route to Goa but the group who was coming the next day would ride via Mangalore which would entail 100kms more of riding. Anyway we met up at the IISC/Tata/Bhel Circle at 6:15 and there were some like Prashant who would be riding the next day who came to see us off. Suddenly as we were greeting each other and warming up to go we are greeted by beautiful looking babes and a dude who come to give us a can each of Red Bull, an energy drink. They would be launching this drink soon and wanted us to sample this. This drink was specially designed for long riders to give us energy when we feel tired... we said what the heck. The girls were a sight for sore eyes for the guys and well they were motivated enough to get going. I was applauding their marketing skills which entailed catching the riders at the early hours of the cold bangalore morning shivering in their flimsy clothes. Some riders were late and it was already 6:45 am so a few decided to leave and a few decided to stay for the latecomers. They would be catching us up anyways. As we rode through Nelamanagala and then on to Tumkur, it was biting cold and we had a full sample of how cold Bangalore could be on the highway in winter. I was shivering inspite of the leather jacket and the gloves... The sun refused to warm us up till 8:30am that day. At 7:15 we had breakfast at Katsandra, 3 kms before Tumkur where that guy served amazing Thate Idlis recommended by Jahangir. Jahangir, a native of Tumkur showed us his house as we passed the Tumkur city.We rode on to Gubbi taking short breaks on the way and at Arisekere we had a hearty lunch since we were all hungry and had enough of riding it was about 1:15 at that time. Lunch was a long drawn out session which we could have cut short but some decided to order beer and languish so we did not have any option but to wait for the rest to start. Finally after lunch we resumed our riding and cruised along the highway. I must note here that this is the best road to use while going to Goa. Its peaceful and the traffic is very smooth and very well spaced out. The road is small but peaceful and a scenic route too amidst the forests. We reached Shimoga and then on to Sagar where we stopped for refuelling. After Sagar, the ghat section started and we stopped again at Jog Falls. We decided that we would be see this place on our way back. The sun had set and we were at the beginning of the ghat section so we needed to be careful and maintain a constant speed without overtaking the other since there were many sharp curves and turns. So we being the slow riders were selected to lead the ghat section. I was kind of tensed but well we crossed the section without any incidents and for that I was thanking god. When we were coming down the ghats it was a beautiful sight to see the lights of the bikes moving in a synchronized manner and I wish we could have photographed it . We were too foccused on getting to Honnavar which was to be our stop for the day. We had covered some 481 kilometres approximately and we were looking forward to a well deserved rest. Honnavar is a small coastal town with a good beaches and cheap food and great hotel. Right as we came down the ghats the we saw Hotel Siddarth next to Kamat's Executive Inn. We were recommended Kamat's Inn but we were offered a good discount by the manager when he saw the big group landing up and he was all the more happy when we told him that another group would be passing by. The rooms were fabulous boasted of TV and a big bathroom, what would cost some 500 plus in Bangalore costed us just 140 bucks per room. Amazing. Dinner was a small party in one of our rooms but i was too exhausted to join them. Later on Rocky went on and on about the so fresh fish fry they had and I was left dreaming about the taste...

Goa Ride Trip

Goa Ride Trip.... Destination : Ridermania 2004, Goa Mood : Excited Starting date 8th Jan 2004. This was a trip I was really looking forward to since it was my first time to Goa and one would get to meet all the other riders and basically have a good time besides doing a lot of riding. The route was planned and the accessories were added like T-Shirts, hand bands, flags all proclaiming the brand of RTMC the group from Bangalore that would be going to Goa. As I was packing my last minute items like first aid kit, water bottles, bandages, I was full of excitement of being on the road again. I had left early from office for the simple matter that I could not concentrate. I ticked off all the stuff that I had listed out for packing for the trip. Packing for biking trip has to be careful. One cannot load oneself with whatever one wanted... and by now I think Rocky thinks that I am expert at packing for a ride. LOLOL. I was thanking my lucky stars that we were finally able to make it since Quicksilver was just back from the TEKNIK after its repairs from the oil skid we had. Anand from TEKNIK was kind enough not to push us for the formalities. He was also planning to take two of his bikes to Goa. His brother designs bikes from scratch and he has made an amazing bike with gas shock absorbers and all that.. Last time his work was sold in goa at the same event for a lakh. That too was a work of art. He does the painting himself. We had attached a two boxes this time since we were doing so many trips and we needed something solid. The saddle bags from the last time was gone. Quicksilver was also revving to go I bet with the rest of her friends... LOLOL . We had to meet up at IISC or Bhel circle at an unearthly hour of 6:00. I say unearthly since it is dark nowadays at this time in Bangalore... but heck we were raring to go. The whole group was divided into three groups. One who left very early on the 6th of Jan. They would be responsible for looking after the lodging for the whole group. We were the second group leaving on the 8th and the last group would be leaving on 9th due to office and all that. The last group would be staying back longer than the rest too. A couple of them left on the 6th and were responsible to check out the accommodation of the two groups that would be riding to Goa. One group would leave the day after on the 9th Jan. Much was discussed about the route . Some wanted to go via Manglore and some by Shimoga. Manglore would entail riding 100 kms of riding than Shimoga route. Our group opted for the shimoga route while the others wanted to do it through Mangalore. We had done a part of the Mangalore highway and we were eager to reach the destination and this was the shortest route so to say. Our group comprised of : Rocky and Pallavi ( thats me ) Prakash and Gayatri Sijan and Anita Andrew and Om Sebastian and Raju Guna and Riwaz Jahangir and Nawaz David Dubier aka Dubyaman Mahendra Easha Vipin (Note: The pillion riders of Jahangir and Guna were little kids of 5 and 7 approximately I think) While returning we were joined by the Madras bulls Navneet, Dodo, Brijesh and Indrajit. Indrajit had come all the way from Calcutta in his Bullet. (Contd.......) the rest of the triplog is coming soon... gotta be a long one... but I am finally free to blog... yeaaaaaaa

busy

In the midst of all the API's I just took some time out to read a few blogs and was amazed at the account of the blogmeets happening all over the four metros... Mumbai seems to be happening... And met some of my favourite bloggers too and then some new ones who I want to read... Great idea for the bloggers to meet. I still think that only a section of the bloggers have met while many preferred to remain anonymous... Well to each his own I guess but the meet was a great success from I read .... now its back to Ctrls and *(&@&#@!*&#$..... :) Ok friends, finally its official. The ridermania feature will be aired in Ten Sports on Jan 27. 10:00 - 10:30 World Football News 10:30 - 11:30 Legends 11:30 - 14:30 MUTV 14:30 - 15:00 Gamer TV 15:00 - 15:30 World Football News 15:30 - 16:00 Fitness Beach 16:00 - 17:00 Extreme Sports 17:00 - 18:00 After Burn 18:00 - 19:00 The Bottom Line : Ep 86 19:00 - 19:30 Indian Football Show 19:30 - 20:00 ATP Tennis 20:00 - 20:30 Royal Enfield Rider Mania 20:30 - 22:00 Cricket Classics 22:00 - 22:30 ICC Cricket World 22:30 - 23:30 After Burn 23:30 - 00:30 The Bottom Line : Ep 86 Oh God hopefully they air it this time..... am keeping my fingers crossed ************************************************* Hehe this the third time i came around to update. I think when I am at my busiest, I feel the urge to write more... random thoughts..... Am listening to elvis and he reminds me so much of my youth.... and adolescence... those days of a damn care attitude and lots of music and books and thoughts of what I shall be.... When my friends were rocking with Beatles, I was hooked on ELvis... THis is one of my favourites... it gives me goosebumps as I listen him croon the melody...reminds me of a far away lost memory ...... Are you lonesome tonite *********************************************** Are you lonesome tonight, Do you miss me tonight? Are you sorry we drifted apart? Does your memory stray to a brighter sunny day When I kissed you and called you sweetheart? Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare? Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there? Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again? Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight? I wonder if you�re lonesome tonight You know someone said that the world�s a stage And each must play a part. Fate had me playing in love you as my sweet heart. Act one was when we met, I loved you at first glance You read your line so cleverly and never missed a cue Then came act two, you seemed to change and you acted strange And why I�ll never know. Honey, you lied when you said you loved me And I had no cause to doubt you. But I�d rather go on hearing your lies Than go on living without you. Now the stage is bare and I�m standing there With emptiness all around And if you won�t come back to me Then make them bring the curtain down. Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again? Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight? ************************************************** SIGH ................... Then I was going through Apple's post.... she reminds me so much of myself....some glimpses here and there... hope she finds her haven and answers to many of her questions.... you hang on there kiddo... ***************************************************** Had my appraisal today and my boss is a sweetie pie.. he reminds me of a concerned bro... anyway, i have taken up the suggestion of learning the Korean Language... after French and German.... the only hitch is I got to find someone to teach me this lingo.... And I am praying for a PROMOTION.......... dear go dear god dear god.... i will feed you 100 ladoos ... LOLOL...............

Oh

OH no !! The Biker Mania progam did not air at the scheduled time... And here i was sitting gawking at the TV... anyways forget it am sorry to have given all my friends the wrong info. It seems that it will be aired on the 19th that is tonite... now I have promised myself not to get to excited.. and all and just keep quiet. *********************************************************** CHAMELI - Not too bad to digest... Watched Chameli this weekend on the VCD. My safe bet on hindi movies are VCDs. That way I can do away with the lengthy parts and songs. I was not expecting much but I must say I was surprised. And if i like it halfway, i quitand watch it in the theatre.. LOL :) Directed by Sudhir Mishra of Is Raat ki Subah Nahin and Calcutta Mail fame, produced by Pritish Nandy Commnications, music by Sandesh Shandilya, lyrics by Javed Akhtar, this movie was the concept of the late writer-director Anant Balani or Jogger's Park fame among many films. This movie could be deemed as an offbeat movie with lots of commercial touches here and there thus bringing in a good fusion between the two. The story revolves mainly around two protagonists a prostitute (Kareena Kapoor) and an financal consultant ( Rahul Bose) two people from totally two different lifestyles who are thrown in together by the forces of nature to take refuge at a dingy looking building. Aman Kapoor the financial consultant gets caught in a storm and because his car breaks down he takes shelter at this place called Flora fountain a place well known for picking up gals and Chameli happens to be there too in this rainy night looking for business from customers. At the outset Chameli hits on Aman thinking that he would be her customer but Aman refuses and then nonchantly Chameli backs down. Slowly the friendship develops and Aman also comes to respect or lets say accept the business that she is doing to survive... As the night progresses, multiple events take place which seems totally out of Aman's control and yet he sees Chameli in a new light, a person trying to survive in the world's most despised trade... The interaction is brought to a level of trust and friendship when an event which somehow involves Aman along with Chameli. Chameli is shown to be a cynical personality since the life is a full circle for her. But Aman is not able to digest the injustice or the feeling of helplessness and somehow through his contacts is able to help Chameli repay a debt monetarily thus easing his own private guilt too. Here the story relates to the personal vendetta of Aman with his own consciousness and how he refuses to deal with it and then how Chameli astounds him by her acceptance of her risk- filled life. The story also displays an unusal romatic relationship of a nineteen year old boy with an ennuch. Indian cinema is getting bolder by the day and well I guess its a good thing that people are at least displaying it to certain extent instead of stuffing it in the proverbial pandora's box where all the taboo subjects of the indian society rests. The ending is what you might want to construe. I would like to think that a beginning of a new friendship and understanding of souls occur and whether that leads to love and romance is for the idealistic to think but its not real. Though the movie has tried to portray the story as a love story between the two roles, I would rather see it as an awareness to the less initiated as to how the less fortunate live their lives and how one grasps the reality and at the end of it all everyone survives... no matter what. I lost out on the love angle and though it was portrayed for a very short time on the screen what was more stressed on was the empathy and understanding of one another's weaknesses. Rahul Bose with his subtle act has complemented the performance of Kareena Kapoor and has managed to give it the right measure of balance between the two extremely opposite roles, one so dark and thoughtful and one so cynical, brash yet optimistic and very colourful. I did not know what to expect from this movie and was just curious to see how this movie worked out but was pleasantly surprised. I for one liked the way the concept was handled and the movie is thoroughly held together only by the performances of the Kareena and Rahul. Dialogues are good and may take you by surprise ... the best part of the movie is its unpredictability... and I like that in a hindi movie... that captures the interest of the audience... Music is nothing great except for the one "bhage re mera man" where Kareena dances and gyrates wildy in the rain. Direction is good. Cinematography is good since the mood of the story is well conveyed and one tends to get inside the story after a while. I would recommend this movie if you want to go for a serious kind of movie. And of course if you like Rahul Bose and Kareena Kapoor you might also enjoy the movie. ************************************************* And I watched Paisa Wasool too half of it that is .... got totally bored by the first half and this movie like tickling yourself and laughing... its a pathetic attempt in the name of comedy... A waste of time and money I would say... please avoid it and I would rather watch Hungama.... given a choice between these two...

LOL

LOLOLOL just was working on the API documentation and I came across this API named ButCtrl_create, ButCtrl_Destroy... and so on for Button Control!! ha hah a How have they managed to name this or maybe I am in just a very naughty mood... *snicker* SNORT !! Tee hee Giggle giggle !!! Tch Tch !! Ok guys if anyone is interested in the Rider Mania event which happened in Goa for which we went riding to Goa... check Rider Mania, tonight at ESPN at 8 pm with a repeat at 11 pm and at star sports at 9 pm with a repeat at 10 pm

good news

Well good news halsocan has taken up the blogspeak commenting service and I might just be having back my commenting system .. he he !! Anyways, yesterday was a holiday and took time to chill off since I was still having hangover from the Goa trip. Believe me guys this is the best time to visit this place. My write up is ready but i want the snaps too ... sometimes I feel that my write up is half done without corresponding snaps... Anyways, holidays are always nice to chill so yesterday we spent a good time visiting my cousin bro and his family and others... Yesterday was a day of touching base I guess which should be more often since its so difficult to take out time for people whom one would like to sit and spend some time with. Life has become very haphazard sometime where you end up doing something really unnecessary. I need some self discipline I think. I have started walking for 20 minutes everyday now and hoping to continue that as a habit. New Year should bring in a new healthier lifestyle, I was thinking and its a good time to start... Yesterday we also had a chance to spend sometime in Indiranagar Club. A friend of ours was the member and had invited us for the evening. I was shocked to know that criteria to become a club member. You must have a property in the prime Indiranagar Area and that fulfilled, for immediate membership, you pay 2 lakhs and then if you want to wait, you got to pay some 30 grand and then wait for 5 years ... YEEESSSHHHH !! I was thinking that I would rather invest in a car and then go some distance to the cheaper clubs for whatever. Even though we think about being club members, one wonders how often one gets to use it. And to pay that much... well anyways ... I guess its more of a status symbol. My interest stemmed from getting to use a place where there would be a decent swimming pool since I love swimming and want to make it a regular activity... but i think I have a lot of other options like Hacienda Club or something ... then again the point is how often one would use it... with all the work schedule and the rest of the daily acitivity thrown in... Must get more organized........

oh no

Oh my god... I am back from goa and all my comments have been ripped off !! GAWK !!! Gosh !! anyways, will soon be posting about this ride... just got back from work and got to do lots !!! but the ride was awesome... GOA rocks !!!!!

Go Goa

Go go go go go GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Goa here we come for the Rider Mania. Last year we had missed it and am i glad that will be there with bikers fromall over in Goa... Arambol..This time it just had to happen... he he. Finally we have got the bike from the mechanic. Today we are fitting new boxes to the bike so that the extra fixed luggage can go in along with the bike accessories and I do not need to carry an extra bag and i can take photos at leisure... yipeee !! Anyway am looking forward to this trip. We will be 12 bikes in all to go on the 8th to the Rider Mania. Had missed it last time and hope to have good fun this time. I for one am very excited since this is the first time for me in Goa. I used to always dream of honeymooning in Goa in my school days when it was a very exotic place and well if notnot honeymoon, its better than that riding towards the beach on our bike... LOL... I feel sometimes that I am the last one to have not gone to Goa... LOL. The travelling bug has really bitten me this time and hope to do more. And I am dancing with joy. Oh I wish I could always travel ..... Planning Pondicherry, Kerela, Hampi, Mumbai sometime soon this year... yes this is one of my new years resolution... travel travel travel and travel some more... explore all the places little known to the tourists... *********************************************************************************************************************** LoC Kargil.... a disturbing moment... Last Sunday watched LoC Kargil. Even with all the confusion in the screen and all the editing by the cinema wallah, it was an emotional movie. More so since my brother also was there in the war capturing Pakistani posts with his jawans when the war was on. And all the stories came back to life. I had heard about many stories from my cousin Major Tushar Pratim Boruah, Naga Regiment who has been posted back to that area now. War does a lot to the mental makeup of the soldier. Despite the tough conditions high up somewhere in the mountians, disillusionment, despair, frustation, my bro says that our soldiers are the best in comparison to any army organization and are willing to fight anytime for the country without batting an eyelid or caring for their life. He proudly says that our officers as shown in the movie go forward before endangering the lives of the jawans unlike the other party where the officers are at the last and are the first to retreat. I have heard how my bro lost his buddy to a mine blast while walking side by side in the war zone and how that mine scraped his tooth. I have heard how the enemy soldiers were nothing but poor people who were promised with lot of money to their families after their death... so for the enemy it was a catch 22 situation... damned if we do damned if we dont. I still remember the satellite phone calls where my bro used to tell me how lucky I was to sleep when he was already awake and on the move before dawn and how he had to survive on tin food. The movie maybe showed us just a fraction of what goes on up there and yet it might leave the patriot shaken.I wish the country would do more for the jawans instead of eating away at the taxes that we pay. Though according to my bro, inspite of the enemy having the best of the best equipment (each enemy soldier is provided with a GPS, insulated tents, sophisticated guns and weaponry while our army supposedly has one GPS for some hundred jawans and the general weapons... beat that)... our army is the best in organization when it comes to fighting a battle and winning through skill and strategy. And each life is valued here... Then I read about the officers like Captain Vikram Batra, Anuj Nayyar,Manoj Pandey etc who were shaheed in "Operation Vijay" and it moved me to tears on reading about such young dare devils sacrificing their life willingly for their country. I remember watching Vikram Batra on the news with Barkha Dutt and the just the day after he was shaheed.. I salute you all who have fought for our country and are still fighting in the terrible conditions which one can only imagine... and also I am very proud of you my bro... Personal thoughts aside, this movie is no great shakes if you are expecting lot of song and dance and the usual masala. It is a tribute to the 12 war heroes among the many who fought and most who attained martyrdom for our country. Like some other war movies it is not pretty. The director has tried his level best to handle a vast topic well and keep the story as real as possible thereby maybe losing out on the commercial aspect of it.... but then this time I was more concerned with the facts and how it was portrayed rather than the frills which come with the movie.... there are some scenes which might have been manipulated but well one cannot tell... Many have said that how can one soldier heroically kill 3 to four of our enemies but thats what exactly happened in some cases. Sometimes the scenes may seem to intense and repetitive but I think for people who can relate to the scene, it might make a difference. It did to me. Many of my friends were bored of the same old location and the same scene being enacted with little difference but what I had to say to them was that war is nothing funny but its a serious game of losing lives and managing lives and well it might not be just everybody's cup of tea. War movies are never pretty and there is nothing to smile about in the movie except for the realistic and sardonic humor which the soldiers share... And typical of hindi movies please expect some mushy stuff happening there but hey its a Hindi movie. For a change its based on true heroes. I can handle that. I thought that the song and dance was not needed but I guess the director was trying to appease the general audience too. The script was good the research well done. Anyways check it out in the DVD if you are interested in the movie. That way you could fastforward the songs and get on with the story. Mixed feelings is what I have when I think about the movie.. story wise its good but movie wise it could have been better but then again one must apprecite the effort of Mr J P Dutta who went out of the way and made this movie at least at the cost of his two of his crew's lives and in conditions which was less than favourable at the icy heights of Leh Ladakh. The actors have done a great job is depicting the roles so much so that on seeing Saif, Capt Anuj Nayyar's friend thought he had played the role to the hilt. Manoj Paney had me rooting for him. I loved Ashutosh Rana and Manoj Bajpai's role ( as the two Yadav friends) in this movie and they made me laugh as well as cry with their enactment... Rifleman Sanjay Kumar played by Suniel Shetty was also very genuine and well it could be well believed that real life heroes do exist big time. Vikram Batra gave a new meaning to Yeh Dil Mange More !!! I am sure there are many who deserve mention in this long list of heroics (about 450 soldiers who lost their lives in the 4 months long war) but it is enough to at least make the layman who was more interested in the cricket match going on during that time aware of what the soldiers were going through at the same time.... I rest my thoughts here !!!!

Pune

Pune.... A stranger in a not so strange world.... Wednesday and Thursday , December 24th/25th 2003, It was 4'o clock in the evening and we were on the first rows of the Volvo us all rearing to go. The driver looked smart and we had a great view of the front the volvo being such a classy bus. Anyways, here I was really excited about the trip and all and we were scheduled to reach Pune at 8:00 in the morning and well I thought after breaking our fast we would roam around the town for Christmas. I was imagining an enjoyable Christmas and the bus rolled to Chitradurg for a break after about 4 hours from Bangalore. The road was smooth and we were all caught up in the movie Vertical Limit in the bus. As it was about 9:30 or so I felt the bus stop half way from Chitradurg... and just when I was thinking that it would be a stop for some leak or something, the driver said something about a puncture... well i was thinking that should be ok since these guys are expert in fixing flats. But lady luck had also taken a holiday so the spare had also a falt, the drivers took off for an hour to get another tyre which was not exactly a volvo tyre but would work for sometime and after an hours break off we went and I was thanking god that things were going on smoothly... a few kilometres ahead, we again had another puncture which took some hours to fix... I was still thinking that well trouble comes in threes but hopefully it stops here. It was in Hubli that we fixed the flat the second time and well right at 3:00 ish in the morning the tyre gave away again... now the passengers were losing it one by one but they were very patient since they could not do anything about it. I was like .... YEESHHHH i just hope we reach pune in the afternoon but because of the delay we had to face the worst of the traffic on the highway which was still being built and so all the vehicles were doing single lane and it was difficult to manouvre the bus fast. Then the handy man put on another movie for entertainment and guess what it was Khiladi.... ha ha ha As if I did not have enough to think about than seeing Ayesha Jhulka's poodle face and Akshay Kumar doing his female act.... EGADDDDD... I think some corner my luck was holding when the TV suddenly fused out.... i was thankng the powers that be gratefully... We reached Belgaum at 7:00 in the morning and well all were really exhausted by the rough ride and just wanted to go home. The folks were getting cranky and started taking the driver's trip. One of them a marathi guy started hassling the driver for a 200/- refund for the delay and well made a big commotion which was unnecessary I felt and delayed us for some more minutes... god I was by this time just praying for whatever patience I had left.... Ha ha oh yes, since the TV of the bus was also fused out this freaked out the already frayed travellers.... then it was time for some dhinchak music which they put off after all started complaining... Believe me stress can do a lot to your sanity... :) I was just praying that a fight should not start right then ..... people were complaining their heads silly... I was praying for deliverance from this situation... had a small tiff with hubby too so I was fuming silently and hungrily.... since rocky did not let me have more food... man i was so pissed... i think the whole situation was getting to us... he he !! Anyway we had smooth roads from Satara to Pune and then the Pune Highway Traffic started. By the way my dream of going through the expressway did not realise since we enter Pune before the express way.... Because of the frustation on the highway our driver let out some of his anger on a truck driver who was not giving way by making the handyman open the door and flung an empty bisleri bottle while overtaking aggressively and cursing all at the same time... I was stunned at the behaivour and the bottle hit the truck driver &%&&&^%$#^@#%#$@Q$#@ right at his face and it was an expression worth observing... LOLOLOL Well it was Christmas that day and it all seemed that my plans of enjoying the town would go down the drain. All I could hope for was to reach our friend's place safely. At last after doing two tunnels and winding road in midst of the traffice I could see Pune nestled the lap of the mountains.. it looked to me like that from where we were entering Pune and well my first impression was well its just like Bangalore... just a wee bit more polluted and a WHOLE lot of two wheelers, especially Bajaj M80 and M50. This contraption was supposed to be the best thing in Pune and was used by majority of the locals.... Well after meeting friends Ranjan and Leena we had a scrumptious after lunch of chicken and rotis and I was starving... we chilled and just took in the breath that was of Pune's. In the evening after all the excitement settled in we went to dinner at The Bounty's in Kalyani Nagar and this place seems to serve the best of the sizzlers and i was not disappointed. YUM YUM is not enough to explain it... Friday December 26th 2003 Osho' Ashram and MG Road was on my itenary and well we took off in the morning on Ranjan's Pulsar. After sitting on bullets, pulsar was a bit on the uncomfortable side. But hey who is complaining as long as it takes me to places... LOL. Well Osho's Ashram.... one word MAROONand SPACED OUT. Traveller's Tip: if you going to Pune please avoid wearing maroon since the locals look at you ina wierd manner which you may not like. Maroon is exclusively for the Oshoites, a friend informed me !! The guides were tired and had a very serious on the verge of rude expression in their faces and well we were told to keep silent for the 15 minute walk inside the ashram. I went through a couple of osho magazines and bought two just to have a feel about what this thing was all about. Got a pink I am on Tour label to stick on my dress and well was called for, "we want only pink labels coming in please".. had me wanting to burst out laughing.. but what the heck.... After a short video clip on Osho and his talks, we went around the campus. I noticed that the campus was very well designed and aesthetically pleasant. And there were people flowing in maroon robes inand out and with their own purpose... as I was walking with the group i saw a beautiful lady in maroon dancing wildly in her own way in the concrete floor which i think is a playground or something.... The funny part was that even though we were asked to keep silent, there was a huge commotion of converstaion all around.... I did not see the purpose... Auroville in Pondicherry also asks the people to keep silent but the surrounding is so silent that one would not like to talk too and there are always some genre of people who cannot stop conversing.... But silence in Osho was not a big deal as everybody was talking normally leading a normal life albeit in maroon. Anyway, saw the auditorium from afar and it looked very imposing.. it was in the shape of a pyramid and it reminded me of the glass pyramid of Le Louvre in France. So maroon was the highlight of the visit. Otherwise the people there are very helpful more so when you are a foreigner. They thought i was one and the moment I started talking in shudh Hindi they came to their normal pattern of conversation which was " I am not interested either way" Maybe if i would have behaved otherwise I would have got more info ... LOLOL. Went to the German Bakery from there and had the famous Apfel Stroodle and Kase Kuchen but the quality sucked. I think the german cafe in Bangalore can boast of better quality food any day. Heard so much about it but my husband says that it is the hangout place for many and well majority were the hippy kind with large tatoos smoking dope and speaking a foreign tongue... In the process I saw some cool modified Bullets in the parking lot and made my day. That afternoon we were off to Girivan.... where we had an amazing time for three days and 2 nights meeting friends and generally having a ball of a time with bonfires and stories from college. The reunion was about the "animal farm" my husband's Symbi classmates getting together after ten years... and what a reunion it was... Lot of chaos, authentic Maharashtrian food comprising of Bhaakhri, Pitla, Thetsa, Chicken curry,puranpoli,Kadi, etc, great service, exhange of humourous stories round the bonfire.... the works... I had a gala time clicking snaps.... finished off 5 reels...he he !!! Have to write a detailed account on that ... Saturday, December 27th 2003 Long morning walks around the mountainous pathways, lemongrass tea, cricket match. exploration of the place and then a heavy lunch after which we went to Pawna Lake and could see the Tikkona fort from afar... was to exhausted to stay awake that night... Sunday, 28th December, 2003. After heavy goodbyes and promise of returning to meet up sooner than the usual ten years, we made our way to Pune and on the way my friend Leena ( Ranjan's wife) took me to the Osho Teerth park ... you can visit the park as a visitor from 3 to 6 in the morning and from 9 to 11 in the morning I think. The rest of the time is for the Oshoites. Well the park is a creative wonder... they have transformed a drain into a park... amazing. I was impressed with the work that they had put into this project.And it was worth the visit. Could not click any snaps... this park was an ideal place for couples who wanted to get away... and could see a lot of them huddles and doing whatnot hanky panky LOLOLOLOL !!! but heck thats life !!! Boarded the bus At 7:00 pm and then reached Bangalore at 11am in the morning this time without any mishaps with the sound of Pyar to hona hi taaaaaaaaa ( Remo sings ta instead of "tha"), and Kuch kuch kota hai ringing in my ears.... Finally reached familiar ground namma Bangaluuru and man I was glad to be back home under blue skies and fresh air... SIGH it was a good break !!! Am gearing for more in Jan.... to Goa we go on our bikes.... hopefully my bike is ok before that it is still being operated on in the garage... LOL... Wishing all my friends a very happy new year !!

Due to some error I have deleted my last post... boo hoo... (

Finally

Yahooo finally I have been able to put my my very own photo blog... yes yes yes !!! I have put up some pictures oh Shillong here... these pics are not mine but from a friends... whom i have preserved of this place... will be posting more from my travels........Check them here Was just testing how it looked !! Next on my agenda is to come up with a blog full of fast to cook and good to eat recipes.. but need lot of patience for that !! :(

SIGH

Of oil slicks and careful riding !! Sunday, a day of lazying and doing stuff that was pending over the week. For me Sunday means cooking good food, cleaning my closet, watching cartoons, going for movies, meeting friends and just being lazy... One could hardly imagine an event that has left me shaken to the core.. I am a controlled and a careful rider and so is my husdand Rocky. But this We were all geared up to meet a friend for breakfast and were on Banerghatta road. Here I was sitting on the bike behind Rocks and imagining a great sunday when all of a sudden I hear a deadly screech and within moments I see Rocks going skidding almost totally under a Sumo and the bike making the terrible impact on the Sumo... I found myself skidding and trying to grab Rocks' jacket to save him from going totally under the vehicle but he is away from my reach and only my nails scrape his jacket... in a slow motion i see my husband going and hitting the Sumo and me just sliding with him and there is oil all over... SUddenly the motion stops and I am aware of people helping me and my husband and we trying to find a footing in the oil filled road. I cross the road with my helmet still on and my leather jacket intact... and in the middle of the crowd my tall knight in shining armour stands up and gives me the thumbs up sign and I was never glad to see him stand tall and smiling... I could have died happily then ... Seconds after that a Kinetic Honda with 4 people coming in fast skids in the same place and avoids the sumo somehow... i get another shock... it was too much to digest.. But in the commotion this family takes off waiting to heal in private I am sure. I hope they are doing fine. Meanwhile when we make sure that everything is ok, we see that a huge length of the road has fresh oil spilled all over it and we were the first to ride through and landed in an accident which could have taken away more than we could imagine at a split second. Must be grateful for the protective gear that we were wearing, helmets, leather jackets, good trousers and shoes... that saved us from a worse fate... Thanks to the bullet club friends who arrived at the scene few moments later and helped load the bike and take it to the service centre. One of the members took us home and we had a great breakfast with a golden retriever( Carl) and a german shephered (Shandy) and my day did not look so bleak at all.. I just wanted to put my face into their thick coats and break down but had to be the brave little barua.. wish I could be a little gal once again and bawl my fears out... LOL.. Being an adult is tough sometimes... Here are the lookalikes of the doggies (Carl and Shandy) who gave me so much solace yesterday... I love you guys... The doggies knew I was feeling very wierd and well the fact they were very playful helped me erase the worst of the trauma... oh for the simple pleasures which makes one appreciate life some more... and what would the world be without friends... Even though we were not riding long miles the very fact that we have ridden together kind of binds us into this brotherhood and it goes without saying that when one is down there are many to help you around... I have been in a worse accident that could have taken my life but i did not feel so shaken as yesterday since I was alone at that time and well little to lose. Yesterday I have been made aware again that one can lose everything in a second. Just takes a second.... This in mind, we went home, relaxed and crash off in the night with some good Vodka .. eased the pain a little but now its GROAAANNNNNNNNNN !!!! All is well that ends well and I am glad that I have been given yet another chance to spend this life in a healthy body. I thank the energies that have been looking after me... I thank the almighty which has given me my husband as a gift... i am so very proud of how he has handled the situation... i love you all the more for taking care of me and being my best freind and a solid pillar of support when I was going to break down... i know we have miles to go and yes i do not want to give it up just so soon... Death is not something that i am afraid of. I am aware its another dimension which awaits me and everyone at some time but when this same death gets reflected in your close ones then I feel scared out of my guts... Lets say I am more scared of losing than being lost. For riders out there, always keep your gear on and ride safe...

Yesterday

Yesteray as I was chilling out after dinner with hubs dear , we got to catch this movie Mercury rising in Star Movies. Directed by Harold Becker and Starring Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Miko Hughes, Chi McBride, Kim Dickens, Robert Stanton, Bodhi Elfman, Carrie Preston, Lindsay Ginter it was a good movie to catch on a Friday evening after dinner. This movie has got a good story line by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, based on Ryne Douglas Pearson's novel Simple Simon. The story revolves round an autistic seven year old boy named Simon played by Miko Hughes who unknowingly deciphers a highly coded numer in a puzzle book and calls the number. This happens to be the number of a top secret organization NSA working on a project Mercury the leader of the org being Lt Kudrow (Alec Baldwin). As soon as the number is traced back to Simon's house all hell breaks loose and his parents get killed by the NSA agent. Simon gets away and in walks Arthur ( played by Bruce Willis). Willingly or unwillingly this undercover- not-so-undercover-anymore cop takes up the responsibility of taking care of the kid. Thus starts the chase for the kid and just when you think that the kid will be caught, Arthur manages to save him and finally deliver him to a safe place amidst suspense, action and drama. All in all its a good watch but it does not excel itself in the status of other movies like Enemy at the Gates. Though there is enough suspense you can tell the outcome of each scene after a few seconds . Maybe one could have worked on the story somemore or made it more captivating. The main villain does not have much of a role in the movie except for grimacing funnily. I like him so but was disappointed in him in this movie.. The star of the movie was Miko Hughes who played the character of Simon to the very hilt and he could give the rest of the stars a run for their money by his acting. The only other great actor who could do justice to an autistic personality was Dustin Hoffman in Rainman and in Awakenings. I watched the movie since I did not watch it till then and well i did not miss that much. I had a choice between a silly hindi movie with unknown actors and this and well I naturally selected this... In brief its light, its fast and its an okay movie!!! ****************************************************************** Well weekend is here !! yaba dabba doooooooooooooo looking forward to catching some new movies, sleeping and of course food !! he he !!

wake me up

WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO GO !!!! Where did my heart go ? Did I put it on the train ? DId I leave it in rain ? Was thinking of WHAM songs... I still remember how crazy we were when we were in school listening to these sounds ... drooling over George Michael and Andy something... i dont remember... they made a good team till George went solo... Very often I can hear Careless Whispers... in my mind Time can never mend When careless whispers of a good friend As the music dies something in your eyes calls to mind the silver screen And its sad good byes So am never gonna dance again Guilty feet have got no rhythm though its easy to pretend ...................................... Ummm feel like slow dancing .... getting sentimental... remembering another song ....... as christmas comes near... Last Christmas I gave you my heart The next day you gave it away This year I will save it from tears I will give it to someone special Once bitten and twice shy I keep my distance but you still catch my eye Tell me baby do you recognise me Its been so long that it does not surprise... The face of a lover with fire in his heart A man under cover..... ...................................... Sad that it all ended very soon ... I sure do miss the beat... these few tunes are reminding me of lazy afternoons after school when I used to chill with just good music and warm clothes and hot cuppa tea watching the sunset in my veranda in Shillong... The fact is that I am feeling like going to the la la land of snoozes and these tunes were playing in my head so put it down... in the hope that i wake up and my boss does not catch me with doozy eyes !!!! Winter afternoons were made for cozying up ... !!! YEA !! Ok Friday is here .. *BLINK* i am wide awake now !!! Blog dunia zindabad PS: by the way the African soiree was boring to say the least ... Could have stayed home and had a few vodkas.... HUH !! Anyway, now I know i shall stay away from funny soirees... BLURB !!

tired

Work and Play Am really tired of API docs... its so bhery bhery boringggggggggggg Anyway have been peeping into other blogs when I see no boss marching past and then just thought of penning down a few lines ... before I get to *(&&^%^$$#$#)(*) DlgCtrl,setItem, AddPopup world .......... GRRRRRRowffffffffffffff In spite of the work this hassling me I am looking forward to an African Soiree. There is this fest going onin Alliance Francais which will be having africans coming in doing dances and all that and then we will be having the arfican food... Guys interested can go there buy tickets from Alliance Francais Bangalore. Tickets are 100/- and would include everything in the fest... The next major task is to read up the life story of napoleon and do a presentation in French... I still think we are little babes in the world of french... how in the world can I comprehend crazy Napoleon and that too in French.. It wan not enough that we had to write pages in the French revolution when I had History as my subject... GROANNNNNNN Well hope to get some nice snaps of the soiree..................

Bangalore Habba had me doing hubba hubba !!

Well here I am after a long weekend and a weekend full of artistic confluence.. music, dance and more music. It all started with Anita wanting to see what Bangalore Habba was all about. I was at my ignorant best... having heard about the habba but not being very interested about it.. Then I saw the program which Anita put it under my nose.. saying that the program would contain musicians like Amjad Ali Khan and Taufiq Quereshi et al. So then this little bulb went on my head to get the passes... Having got the passes we all made our way to Palace grounds... it was well set up and there were seats available. Surprise !! So after having met friends and muching on lots of popcorns and other stuff we sat down to enjoy the evening and what an evening it was... Friday : December 12th 2003 Started with Amjad Ali Khan playing three pieces and it made me forget everything but what he was playing... He ended with a benglai song " ekla cholo re combined with a bihu song from assam " and that made us all very happy ... Then we watched Shobhana performing her dance sequences which had us all enthralled.. at the end of it ( courtesy somenew friends we made), we reached the VIP stalls and sat on the VVIP chairs and right at the time when Taufiq was playing we were on the first row... ha ha !! What a surprise. there were some technical glitches which resulted in the band stopping in the middle due to the loss of power but thank god they resumed and we were assaulted with Taufiq's magic which went on for more than an hour and what a delight that was.. it was 1:30 by the time we reached home... Anita had to leave for Hyderabad next morning... but we decided that we would attend the other two days too.The crowd was light and I hoped that the crowd would be like this the next two days... ( much to my disappointment) Saturday: December 13th 2003. Got VIP passes courtesy my friend Bhaskar Rai ...And by the time we arrived it was heavily crowded and it was difficult to get a seat but however we managed. Many tried to plonk one chair on another to get a better view... that resulted in a little skirmish among the audience.. Meanwhile Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia started weaving his magic with his flute recital and it was a melodious experience... slowly the crowd started dispersing and we got to go forward and so did we... A group started doing a modern dance composition and it was nice watching them sway to the rhythm. After that it was Mr Prasad Bidappa's turn to dazze the audience with a fashion show of silk sarees designed by the Maharaja of Mysore and then it was time for some more dance by Saroj Khan's troupes and then again Fashion shows conducted by Neeta Lulla and Rocky S. Seemed that Mumbai was in Bangalore what with all their shiny dance troupes... and all the gliterrati... anyways.... had had enough of all that so left early... Sunday: December 14th 2003. This time it was VVIP passes and well we were looking forward to the show. Started with Layam, Talam, etc percussion confluence...It was good and then I was keen on watching Shankar Eeshan And Lloyd perform and they did not disappoint us... Missed Anita since we had become fans of KHNH songs fans... and Shankar performed KHNH songs and the crowd went mad... then he went on to Dil Chahata Hai songs... the birdie song and the Koi Kahe song which drove the public all the madder ... when he started singing Ghanana Ghanana from Lagaan people started to open bottles of water and sprinkled all over to fake rain... the whole crowd was having the time of their life and so was I ? LOL !! Then it was Aasma which was pretty disappointing after Shankar and we left the show... All in all felt very happy and exhausted after three continuous days of shows... The organisers have promised the crowd that this will happen every year and well I am surely looking forward to it !!! Meanwhile I am one satifisfied cat who has well had the cream.... MEOWWWWW !!!

Funny

Well I had to post this one from my collection just for the fact that it was damn funny to read !! CALCUTTA's Telegraph had got hold of an answer paper of a candidate at the recent UPSC examinations. The candidate has written an essay on the Indian cow: ************************************************************************ "The cow is a successful animal. Also he is quadrupud, and because he is female, he give milk, but will do so when he is got child. He is same like God, sacred to Hindus and useful to man. But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards. "His whole body can be utilised for use. More so the milk. What can it do? Various ghee, butter,cream, curd, why and the condensed milk and so forth. Also he is useful to cobbler, watermans and mankind generally. "His motion is slow only because he is of asitudinious species. Also his other motion is much useful to trees, plants as well as making flat cakes in hand and drying in the sun. Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then afterwards she chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of the mouth. He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass. "His only attacking and defending organ is the horn, specially so when he is got child. This is done by knowing his head whereby he causes the weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly proceed with great velocity forwards. "He has got tails also, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies which alight on his cohoa body whereupon he gives hit with it. The palms of his feet are soft unto the touch. So the grasses head is not crushed. At night time have poses by looking down on the ground and he shouts his eyes like his relatives, the horse does not do so. "This is the cow." P.S.: We are informed that the candidate passed the exam. ************************************************************************* Even though its an old article, I still laugh when i read this ....

LAUGHTERs and SIGHs

This is a personal account and may be biased...... Readers who do not want to know the story of Kal Ho Na Ho can avoid reading this post.. Finally after a lot of attempts I got to watch Kal ho na Ho. Planned to meet Anita at 6:00 but got delayed with documentation work which i somehow managed to wriggle out of by feigning a major tooth problem for which I simply HAD to go to the dentist... my colleague actually asked me which dentist I had to go to... I spent precious moments explaining to him which tooth of mine was almost about to die and I might have to do a root canal... LOL and of course then he went on to suggest another dentist's name... Somehow I managed to stop this discourse and then rushed to the theatre. Owing to the traffic I was about 15 minutes late... well it was good since at that peak time it would take me 45 minutes... I missed about 15 minutes of the movie... but then it was ok i guess since the intros were still going on about the characters.... WHEW !! i relaxed and prepared myself for the movie... About 7 minutes into the reel, a huge man comes in and sits beside me and well the seats of Plaza theatre are pretty small and you could imagine he took more than was required of the seat and then started the elbowing ( i am hoping unintentional) and then jerking me along with him when he was laughing... that was seriously affecting my concentration... since I am very ticklish in the waist area and his elbow would poke me there everytime he laughed... SIGH... i was thinking that this was just not my day... Anita was well into the movie... Saif comes into the scene and I am eagerly waiting for some laughs and well I am not disappointed... I am slowly getting to like him a lot.. he does very good comedy... ( SIGH he reminds me so much of Sharmila Tagore... ( ok thats the retro me speaking out) !! UGH another elbow poke...... Preity does well in her role and the rest of the cast including Lilette Dubey, Jaya Bahaduri, etc etc also blend in well... Ok somehow I edged ahead of my seat and focussed on what was happening in the theatre. In comes Saif and does he look cute, and then starts the family sobs and the scene where they pray for an angel... and entree Sharukh Khan (reminded me of City of Angels). Then starts the series of funny repartees which was pretty entertaining and through little inferences here and there one can already depict the end of the story... POKE POKE POKE... ( means the guy next to me is heartily laughing) SK is a pesky neighbour who is always good doing this and that for the neighbors ... and everything goes on well ... yes i liked the songs and the dances... you must check out the disco song, its good.... "Its the time to disco" SK decides to start his sighing.... and wiggling his eyebrows... and beating his heart with his hand .. .Mind you this gets repeated after some scenes in some way or the other... fun still continues and the first half is tolerable... quite ok for me... Intermission... What a relief we changed places and I relaxed....OH la la la !!! Then starts all the tears... the anguish and the funny logic of ... "kisike khatir mat karo par ek marne wale ki khatir to karo !!" Oh mama !! By this time i was biting my fingers... ( I again see that Anita is watching the movie so intently.. why i ask myself am i so disturbed... ) .... Ok focus ...Scene next ... SNIFF SNIFF SNIFF ... GIGGLE ... and just when I was generating tears in my eyes... out pops a funny dialogue... well my eyes did not know whether to cry or to laugh... In midst of it all.... there was a lot of rib tickling comedy full of gay entendres... guess somebody is trying to come out of the closet or something.. we all wish him well... SIGH !! Preity is by this time doing a la Meena Kumari with shedding tears every now and then and By this time I was waiting Sk to do another Devdas... but it was not to be... it was stretched as far as it could be... with melodramatics ... dances high and low ... and then some more histronics and bucket full of tears which would shame the rain pouring down continuously on your window pane !!! well naturally i also shed some of my pearls... I hear loud and long SNIFFS in the theatre.. and feel glad that I am not the only one ... yes !!!! And finally after a lot of attempts at this and that, one song and the other... fatal love declared... and stuff organised... Sk's heart gives up and he finally rests in peace and well Saif and Preity unite in harmony and friendship and love... Blah blah ... PATATI PATATA !!! First part of the movie is good, second part could be compared to a mixture of Kabhie Khusi Kabhi Gam plus Devdas... and add to it a lot of elasticity and unecessary prolonging of the shots ........... EEEEAAAAYOOOOUCHHHHHHHH... And if you like Karn Johar's work you will like this movie. I liked the fact that there was lot of humor in it and quite natural too.. I wish they come up with more movies with a humorous edge to it. Many people have compared the movie to Anand but I think its got its own story and its pretty interesting sometimes to see what would be the next scene. Watch it !! In spite of me not liking SK in the movie, it is well known that he worked hard for this movie ( before his surgery) and this is appreciated... *********************************************************************************** After the movie, came home had dinner with hubby and Anita and a lot of wine ( liquer de passion ) made of Passion fruits and felt much better.... Home made wines are the best !! Hic !! Hic !! Woke up needing more sleep.... waiting to crash off at home.. Today is my third wedding anniversary and it seems that time has flow past just like that... hoping to make many more good memories !!

This used to be my playground

Woke up with a feeling of nostalgia after a long dream last night which had me reliving my childhood days and making me feel like a ten year old again !! Faced the same uncertainities and walked the old path of discovery and recalled associations with personalities who have taught me a lot... And together with that i remembered this song which really suits the mood !! (originally from the movie A League Of Their Own, Written by Madonna and Shep Pettibone This used to be my playground {used to be} This used to be my childhood dream This used to be the place I ran to Whenever I was in need Of a friend Why did it have to end And why do they always say Don't look back Keep your head held high Don't ask them why Because life is short And before you know You're feeling old And your heart is breaking Don't hold on to the past Well that's too much to ask Live and learn Well the years they flew And we never knew We were foolish then We would never tire And that little fire Is still alive in me It will never go away Can't say goodbye to yesterday No regrets But I wish that you Were here with me Well then there's hope yet I can see your face In our secret place You're not just a memory Say goodbye to yesterday {the dream} Those are words I'll never say This used to be my playground {used to be} This used to be our pride and joy This used to be the place we ran to That no one in the world could dare destroy ******************************************************* And today I am finally catching up Kal ho na Ho with good friend Anita. Both of us are really excited... It will be nice to see the song and dance once again !! Sometimes its ok i guess but i am not that great fan of Sharukh after seeing some of his wierd movies like Chalte Chalte and Ashoka... But I am expecting something humorous from Saif Khan and Preity Zinta who really entertained me last time I watched Dil Chahata Hai... I am crossing my fingers and toes that i like it !!

My way or the highway

This is our bike and this snap was taken on our monsoon ride to Kerela and back. We were in the midst of a forest and somebody's brake got jammed... So we all stopped for a break... absolute silence except for the crickets cackling and the wind whistling by.... it was erie and wonderful moment... just seconds after i clicked this snap, we were bombarbed with huge raindrops all of a sudden out of nowhere... it was amazing !!! This snap is just to remind me that very soon we will be on the road again and well I am very excited !! Yipee do dai oooooooooo

Nostalgia

Just was passing through some photos and up came this photo of this church where I used to go often when i was a student. Feeling a wee bit nostalgic so thought I would post it on my blog... This is a famous Catholic church in Shillong which is known for its architecture and its beauty. My association with this structure would be from the age of 10 when we used to taken there often by convent sisters for masses and other prayer meetings... my school was just around the block so it was very convenient for our sisters too... Memories of a long distant land... always seem to make me feel blessed that I had been there in a time long forgotten !!! SIGH !!! By the way notice the bullet at the corner of the photo. This snap was taken by a biker friend who had the guts to travel the North East alone on his bike. Mr Gaurav Janni who is the lead of the 60KpH bullet-enfield group fame. By the way their article was published on the latest issue of Femina... The article was mainly about this group riding to Leh and back and about this gal, Niccolita who took her Bullet ( which was the oldest one among the gang) and her riding experience... If I am not mistaken, she is the first Indian woman to ride the himalayas in her bullet... Man I so wish i can do that soon !! Praying that one ride happens before time runs out !!

Selling things..

These Saturdays I have taken up helping a friend by working at her shop and the first day I went I thought it would be easy maintaining a shop and that too selling stuff like women's wear was never a problem... but oh la la !! I guess i was too hasty. I have to learn one or two things about selling things... though the customers are pretty gullible they canbe very difficult !! One wanted shoulder pads on her dress even though it was not possible, one was fussy about a colour which we had but not in her size... one wanted a gushy design for her daughter who was decently plump and could not carry off that design.. took me an hour of dilpomacy to convince her that what i designed would look great and make her daughter look thin... Anyways.. am learning a thing or two about business with the aid of my friend... have had to sacrifice a few free hours but then i guess ... no pain no gain !! Watched this movie at the wee hours of the night, the interview with the Vampire,.... DUH woke up with scary dreams... remind me never to watch something gory before going to sleep... SHUDDDER !!

Discovery

Right in the morning as I was checking my mail, I got this amazing tool which can help writers a lot. Its an online encyclopedia plus dictionary plus blah blah... you got to check it out if you are in the profession of writing and it also has a food section thrown in ... he he !! They have got some cocktail recipes and all that .. hic hic !! check it out if you are interested. The UI is also very interesting !!

Acceptance

Thanks for the nice comments my friends on my previous post !! I appreciate it !! Acceptance of what that is is very difficult but once one has made peace with the fact one can live again... and I am rolling in my life again albeit slowly !! yeah right now I am thinking of starting a photoblog ... but have no idea where to start from.. doing lot of googling... Bangalore is getting chilly in the mornings and well its very difficult pulling myself up in the morning for French class when all i need to do is sleep.. but I enjoy the ride to class through the fog once my cells are functioning and alert... Today morning the view over Ulsoor lake looked very etheral and I could also see the sun mildly peeping out in my rearview mirror.. making me smile... yes life is good... Today I got almost banged by two vehicles.. one was a huge honda which was reversing so intently that it a row of bikes starting off a domino effect which ended in me being the effect stopper... well just when I was imagining myself being my self spreadeagled beneath the bikes, two knights in shining armour rushed to my rescue and my day and dignity was saved... So here I was thanking my lucky stars and riding when some bugger decided to change laned and got stuck between my bikes behind and a merc's front... Well as expected I almost toppled over in the middle of the traffic but i think my luck still was running so all that I could give him was a dirty stare and carry on !! of course inside my helmet I was spewing curses about people who should look before cutting lanes and overtaking, like nobody's business. Today I got the number of a crystal gazer.. and I think I just might go and give it a try .. lets see what she has to say... mumbo jumbo here I come !!!

A sudden stop to life

Today I am feeling kind of despondent. The reason being that at 3:30 in the morning we receive a call from home informing us that a young cousin in law was no more. It was a shock since I just kind of met him when I was home. Typically the first thing that comes to mind is denial. My hubby, Rocks was more in shock since the person in question was someone with whom Rocks grew up with and did all the things that young uns do when they are growing up. He used to fondly call him his "partner in crime". I know he is feeling more than I am and I can only wonder how things are affecting him. This is the second case of death of a youth which could be avoided. Why are people not careful about their health specially when they are afflicted with something which can kill oneself. The first case was of a colleague who had TB and well she was undergoing treatment and then suddenly she was going for the worse and she decided to ignore it since she was fed up of all the medicines and that ended her life just like that one morning. The second case is family... this cousin had jaundice and we do not know whether he was ignoring the little fever he had and kept on with his hectic work schedule or it just happened. the fact is that he ended up in bed and the last time I saw him some days back he was ok and now today morning he is no more.... how can people die of something like jaundice ? I still cannot believe it... I know that there is no reason for death coming in whispered footsteps but heck it does not help me to question the fact that he could have lived, my friend could have lived. We were going to go for his wedding this February and now everything is erased just like that............ Just like that !! The fact that life is so fragile is again being underlined to me !!! Am really depressed !!

Vacation

Hello All, for the few of my friends who have been wondering where i disappeared into.. well definitely not into a fog !! he he !! i was there but taking a well deserved vacation !! It all started when i got this new job and then my company decided to retain me and well i thought what the heck i better take my leave then and off i went applying for my leave and WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !! I was in Assam, Guahati before I could think.. he he !! nice thing this... IMPULSE !! Always makes me feel good when i act on impulse... So there I was with my bag and baggage and saying hi to my family.. Man it felt good. though i wished it was Shillong where i longed to visit but unfortunately Assam was not doing well in terms of political unrest so spent time in my sasural that is Golghat and then back in Guahati ( both are in Assam). It was a blissful period where i could relive the joy of having my parents around, bickering with them for things that i usually ignore, just talking to them being a daughter instead of a woman of the world. That is what unwound me from the daily routine life... Ah I missed my hubby and wished that he could share my fortunes.. but that was not to be then... so i made the best of the situation... hogged till kingdom came and shopped till I dropped and basically relaxed...and chillllled out ............. Had my aunts fretting over me telling me tales of the bygone days which used to be a general session when I was living with my parents... basically touch basing with the past present and the future.. I so sorely miss that... here in Bangalore.... Anyway then there was this story of fishes... I am a great lover of fish in the plate, specially river fish and I have had every type of fish available in the east cooked by mom ... HA HA it was heaven .... Hilsa, Pabda, Small fish, prawns, chitol ( thats what they call in Bengali, dunno the english name), you name it !! And before I could say U N C L E, I was back in Bangalore. time flies so fast... Assam is as usual up to something or the other.. its sad to know that a place with such rich resources are wasting time in useless and harmful political pursuits like ganging up against the biharis. Dont they realise that most of the hard work is done by the very biharis that they are beating up .... Stupid politics and unreasonable too, i say. Wish they put that energy in more creatice and lucrative projects... Hmmmmmmmmmmm ............. Anyway watched Mumbai Matinee and Baghban.......... OH Man !! Baghban was a tear jerker and a patience jerker... that litrerally jerks you out of your seat with the dialouges... EEEEEESSSSSSSSSSHHHH why dont they make some nice hindi film with less tears and more fun....... where have all the good days gone.. On one hand if you are being lathered upon by the romantic scenes of a 60 year old ( amitabh) with hema malini, the other hand you have to content with actors who could not act even if there life depended on it... I was pissed with big bloating eyes at the end of the movie.... Then you had Salman who overdid the good role and well the least i say about it the better........ Then I took up Mumbai Matinee............ HA HA HA !! That was good in comparison to Baghban. Mind you I have said "in comparison to" .... It was about this bloke who wanted to lose his virginity... and some of the dialouges were hilarious and rahul bose, the main protagonist tried to do something but I think that somewhere down the line he swallowed the pill the wrong way... In short it was a cheap imitation of Austin Powers concept with bad direction..... YOU could give both the pics a miss if you still have not seen them and be better off with a good drink and better company ... Anyway am planning to watch Kal ho na HO !!! Soon that is !!

Movie Review - Matrix

Finally watched Matrix Revolutions and well I must say that they have done a good job but hmmm I must go and see it again. The movie as a whole will give you what you are going for but maybe the concept was no longer new to the crowd so the enthuisiasm was on the low side. The graphics are nothing major in the beginning ... i was expecting more of fight scenes between Neo and his counterpart .. was disappointed when it occured.. the scene was marred by the rain which they thought would enhance the scene.... but finally the scene of the battle between the machine and Xion was awesome ... here the focus was on all characters rather than on Neo. Sometimes the scenes tended to be confusing but hey i did not care as long as there was some action and what an action.... The ending was unexpected and the invasion of the machines was a well done shot... One really wonders what one would do if one were ruled by scores of machines.. I did not understand the end... and well it left me behind with a taste of bewilderment but then hey i guess who is noticing, i just have to go and see it again. If you guys are up for action and do not mind too much explanation... i think this is the movie for you!!! Otherwise the weekend was full of completing a book in french, a crazy book i had to read which i need to present afterwards... the french are always a little different from the rest.. and it is reflected in their movies and their literature. The book was about a guy who opened his umbrella when it was sunny and closed it when it was raining. And how it affected the society.. and how you should live and let live... ( that was my conclusion) but otherwise i was like .. go figure !!! Hmmm !! I guess i have to start thinking way way out of the box to be able to understand the french !! Work wise there is lot of hectic activities going on since I have tendered my resignation and well though I am leaving my present org, it kinda seems sad... but then hey ... getting too comfortable with one's present job too is a dangerous thing... so i guess I am looking forward to new paths and new challenges. Next on my list is to go shopping............ Yipeeeeeeeeeeee !!! Love shopping when i have the dough to spend it....he he :)

Yohoooooooooooo

Finally I think, finally i have got a new job and i am pretty happy i guess. I am morer happy about the fact that I can go home and meet my parents if i strategically plan by leave before joining the new organisation. YIP YIP YIP .. thats me jumping like a happy puppy not because i got a job but because i can finally go home and see my folks... its been a year since i saw them and its been three years since i visited my native so there...... i am overjoyed... By the way the guy who talked too long has shifted so i am thrilled ... perseverance pays i guess... The job, well .... not paying me exactly what i wanted but finally i got through and well its ok now... Hmmm one thing which is very common in all the companies i have seen specially big companies.... they do all talk big and even though they know that they are dealing with a person well versed with the company jargon and policies they still try and go about running around the bush dancing like a red indian... and the funnypart is that as much as i was going the straighforward way the other party was running bigger circles around the bush... guess i must also learn this dance .... Like in french they say patati patata... you blah blah, i patati patata .... silly of me to expect anything different but hey it does not harm to hold on to one's values !! AT THE END OF IT ALL I am a going home............. country roads take me home to the place i belong , Oh my shillong, yes my shillong, mountain roads take me home.......... the original song always reminds me of my Shillong... SIGHHHHHHHHH !!

Suckered

OK before anyone says it again I have come to know that the google thing was a joke and i got suckered. Anyway what else is new ? I have always been easy to get at. The other day in Mocvenpick, i was approached by a magician and well i was so engrossed in proving it to him that all it was was a sleight of hand ... that i did not see his trick coming... and was totally taken in... Moral of the terminal story... be more alert !! I wish !! Anyway today one of my classmates in French was telling a story about how she spend two years in making a doll house and collecting all things possible for the house in the miniature form. Its a passion for her and well I thought that it was amazing . Frankly speaking, my concentration can stay at one place at one time not more than 2 mins and what patience to have created one... Hmm I would rather stick to banging my keyboards and rambling on about this and that he he !! But Kudos to that lady !! i must say !! And what do you do when your baymate takes up the phone that you share and speaks in a language almost foreign ( Tamil, which I know a little) loudly for 45 minutes... I think i am going to go and bang my head into something to get sane... the language is not the issue, the time is the issue... he is getting married and i understand that he wants to get lovey dovey but hey use the cell $#@$#@$... GRRR I feel like i am going to blow... ok now i am playing my mini radio loudly so that he can get the message... no no its not working.... ok now I have called someone at my desk and started my own dialouge to break his concentration.... Ah ha its working... HMMMMMMMMMM a simple solution to a simple problem... he he !! fight talk with talk !! I am victorious !!! YIPEEEEEEEEEEE